Not Everyone Will Let You Down
by hopelesslyundeniablyaddicted
Summary: Nico is the only out gay kid at school... and it wasn't even his choice to come out. Living in an unaccepting, narrow-minded town, he is bullied to no end and has nobody to rely on, until one day, when a green-eyed boy comes into his life.


****A/N: Hello! This story was supposed to be posted, like, last month, during Bullying Awareness Week, but oh well, better now than never. Percy doesn't appear until chapter 2-3, though. Well, hope you like it!****

****Title comes from the Stand Up! Anthem called I'm Ready by Eleven Past One.****

****Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson. I do not own any brands/people/places/etc. you might recognize.****

****Warnings: Violence****

**Not Everyone Will Let You Down**

****CH 1****

"Faggot!" was the word I heard as I was slammed into the wall of lockers. This was pretty much standard protocol now… ever since 'T.W.D.O.M.L' (that's code for The Worst Day of My Life).

"Homo!"

"Cock-lover!" Castellan (cause of T.W.D.O.M.L, the quarterback, and the school bully) yelled out. Chuckles rang out across the hall.

I sank down to the ground next to my things (that fell out of my arms when I was pushed) and stayed there for a few minutes until I decided to pick up my stuff from the floor.

"Hey, Nico. Are you okay? Is it Castellan and his cronies?" a feminine voice said from next to me. 'Who even _says_ cronies?' I thought. Recognizing it to belong to my step-sister, Hazel, I just nodded and got up, my things back in my arms.

"You should really tell someone." she said.

I chuckled coldly. "Like I haven't tried? Nobody cares, Hazel. It's just life."

"I care." was her reply, her voice wavering.

Sighing, I told her, "Sorry, Hazel, I know you do."

She gave me a quick hug and we parted ways to our next classes.

The clock was moving too slow. I stared at it, tuning out the droning voice of my Latin teacher. My mind began to wander, going places I didn't want to be anywhere near right now.

"_Meet me in the locker room after class." Luke Castellan whispered to me. He was my crush, but I'd never tell him, or anyone for that matter. He rarely ever talked to me, but I was sort-of excited to spend some time with him, so I just nodded._

_I walked into the eerily quiet locker room and sat down on a bench. I didn't notice Luke come in until he said, "Hey."_

"_I-uh, um, hi." I replied, unable to stop stuttering._

"_I wanted to a-"_

"Mr. di Angelo! Di Angelo? Nico? Are you okay?" said Mr. Brunner, rolling up next to me in his wheelchair.

"W-what?" I replied.

"Are you okay?" he repeated.

"I-I'm fine, sir-Mr. Brunner." I didn't even realize I was crying until my tears dripped off my chin.

"Could I just-just go to the washroom?"

"The ladies washroom?" someone yelled out from the back, earning some snickers.

"Rodriguez! Stay in after class." Mr. Brunner yelled. "You can go, Nico." he said, in a considerably softer voice.

I liked my Latin teacher. His lessons were boring, but he doesn't let homophobia slide, or any bullying at all for that matter. Most of my teachers either turned a blind eye or even _encouraged_ it, but not Mr. Brunner.

I got up from my seat with my head down and headed to the washroom.

"Hey!" someone yelled harshly from behind me. My blood ran cold and I froze. "Faggots don't deserve to live," the person continued.

"But we'll get in trouble if you died and they found out it was us." a different person spoke.

"So, we're gonna beat you up so bad you'd _wish_ you were dead!" a third person declared.

I was scared. This was the first time the bullies had directly confronted me. Turning around slowly to face them, I saw that there was a fourth person.

Holy shit.

I recognized them as Luke Castellan, Ethan Nakamura, Alabaster Torrington, and Chris Rodriguez (how Chris managed to escape from class, I'd never know). They closed in on me, then Alabaster picked me up and roughly tossed me over his shoulder (I was pretty bony… we'll talk about that later).

They took me outside to the large football field. It had rows and rows of bleachers, and there was a group of porta-potties at one corner for some unknown reason. They dropped me under the bleachers, onto the rough gravel.

"So," Castellan said, circling me, "who wants to go first?"

Ethan Nakamura stepped closer to me. He had an eyepatch on one eye. He gave me a cruel smirk as he raised his leg and kicked me in the ribs.

Once.

Twice.

Another time.

Pain seared across my chest as I struggled to breathe.

He stepped back, then pulled my shirt up to look the the bruise. I'd given up on fighting back and decided to just take it.

"Too small," he grunted.

He began to kick me again, harder, and tears began to prick my eyes. I tried to blink them away and deal with the pain. I couldn't let them see me cry.

But I didn't think I'd succeed… if this was just the beginning.

"Alright, my turn." Rodriguez announced. He picked me up by the scruff of my collar and began to punch my face.

Pain shot through my jaw and I tasted blood in my mouth. I think he knocked some of my teeth out.

"I have an idea." Torrington said, pushing Chris aside and throwing me over his shoulder again. He crossed the field… and headed towards the porta-potties?

He opened it and shoved me inside. "On three, tip it!" he yelled.

"One!"

"Two!"

"Three!"

I was violently shoved to the back of the porta-potty as it tipped over, hitting my head on the hard metal surface of the wall. They started shaking the porta-potty, laughing as my whimpers traveled to their ears. Too tired to move, I laid there and waited for someone to find me. Some random student, maybe.

Nobody did. I was stuck there.

Stuck there, alone.

I had no idea what the time was. No idea when I'd get out. I tried to make myself comfortable, and after a while, I dozed off.


End file.
